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Politics of Sundance: Inclusive Stance?
IS SUNDANCE'S ALLEGEDLY PROGRESSIVE AGENDA A FACADE? --- Quotes taken from How Not to Make a Short Film: Secrets from a Sundance Programmer ''by Roberta Munroe. Blanket guidelines on critiquing a film's possibility of screening: KEEP IT FRESH. Stray away from conventional cinema storylines: The Tragic Buddy Film Two soldiers (pick a war—Iraq, Vietnam, WWII, WWI—I’ve seen them all) struggle through the snow/rain/mud/forest/desert. One is wounded/angry/desperate and the other is proud/quiet/rebellious. There are flashbacks to battle, letters or pictures of girlfriends pulled out of pockets, and they usually run out of water/food and end up barely escaping the enemy by hiding out in some dirt hole or farm basement. Or, worse, they are each from opposite armies (British vs. Italian, German vs. American, etc.) and have to help each other stay alive. Whatever. The Latino Drug Lord/Black Gangster Film Two guys, one a “good- looking natural- born killer,” the other his “not- so- committed- to- the- cause, not- that- great- looking best friend.” They either steal money/drugs from other criminals, find a bunch of money that belongs to other criminals, or they are the avenging criminals trying to get their drugs/money back. The twist on this one is when the “not- so- committed- to- the cause best friend” is the “little brother who is about to graduate from high school but gets shot by accident instead.” The Hughes Brothers have moved on—so should you. The Poetic/Lyrical Non- Linear Ode to Ex- Girlfriend Plenty of old photos, Coldplay (unlicensed of course) underscores the entire film, shots of the ocean, steel- gray skies, a laughing couple playfully wrestling in the sun at Griffith Park, maybe even eating cotton candy at Coney Island. CUT TO: lonely guy or girl watching TV alone, walking along wetted down streets smoking, wandering aimlessly in and out of all the old favorite places they used to go. The Cold Mountain Film This is the period- piece film. There are the slave woman and man tucked away in their beds conspiring about their imminent escape. Or it’s the Black slave woman who is in love with the white master (or the other way around, or it’s the white woman and her Mandingo). Could be about Jesus Christ, could be about the Apache slave trade. Doesn’t matter—they don’t work. The Prostitute (Homeless Man, Curmudgeon Who Lives Next Door) With a Heart of Gold Film A fairly drab house wife who hates her kids, her husband, her job, her colleagues, and ultimately herself meets up with one of the above. Sometimes it’s a man with the same storyline only he has already lost his wife, kids, job, and will to live. Along comes a prostitute, or a homeless man, or the nosy old lady next door who teaches them how to be grateful for what he or she has. After a fourminute conversation, the woman becomes the dream mom, wife, mother, and employee or the man gets his wife, kids, job, and self- esteem back. The Dream/Suicide Film This is possibly one of the most excruciating short fi lm ideas ever. Your protagonist is dead and he doesn’t know it; is contemplating suicide but her daughter runs into the room with her report card so the lead drops the pill bottle behind the couch; OR, worse, the protagonist dies a horrible death only for the audience to be “shocked” by the fact that it was all a dream. But the ultimate worst story idea in this genre is when the lead kills someone accidentally (usually a child while he’s driving drunk or angry), is then killed accidentally by the ghost of the dead child, and the two live in some sort of experimentally shot purgatory forever. I’ve seen this film way too many times and it rarely hits its mark. Stop yourself. The Rip- off Film Oddball guy, gets pushed around at school, laments over not having a chance with the popular girl, has an even more oddball best friend (male or female, usually overweight and smokes) who encourages him to try out for the football (baseball, chess, polo) team to get the girl’s attention. Coach is a madman megalomaniac who brings him on only to see him get his legs broken, his mom drinks vodka in her morning coffee and smokes in the broom closet while his dad polishes his guns, teaches English literature at the local college, and tells his son he’s a moron every chance he gets. Guy gets winning goal (home run, checkmate, whatever), gets the girl, and learns to tango. WTF? The Cancer/Crack Addict Parent/Holocaust Documentary All of a sudden during lunch one Friday afternoon, Bubbe starts telling you the story of her escape from Europe during Hitler’s terrorizing reign. You run, grab your camera, and voilà, you have a compelling documentary about the Holocaust. No, no, you don’t. You have your grandmother telling her incredibly poignant story beside an open window (with traffic and pedestrian noise intermittently drowning out her voice), lit with a 60- watt light bulb (making her look like she’s auditioning for Dawn of the Dead IV), and of course the light bulb is flickering— which is impossible to fi x in post, where she forgets she’s on camera and often walks out of frame to get more tea or talk to your aunt Ruth in the other room (who has forbidden you from turning the camera on her). Or you find out that you have cancer and want to document your journey. Or you learn that the women of the neighborhood are losing their Community Garden to the greedy corporation that owns the property and won’t sell it to them. Or you run into some crack addicts living on skid row who allow you to follow them around while they get high. ----- Then later goes to revere the directorial debuts of artists who bring in something new, something that's never been done before, and cites Shirin Neshaut (''Turbulent, Persian musician/artist) in the following: “I’m not sure if it’s an experimental filmmaker’s responsibility to educate the mainstream audience because really a filmmaker’s task is simply to make his or her fi lm however experimental that might be. There seems to be always an audience for such films, even if it’s a small one. Having said that, while making my films, I constantly had to ask myself and others, whether a certain meaning of the fi lm was transparent or not. Through the various test screenings, I was surprised how often many, including non- mainstream audience, missed some of the most significant aspects of the narrative. This of course was very helpful for me to go back to the editing table and consider the problem. So at the end, you as a filmmaker hope to make a fi lm that maintains the right balance in between being accessible to the public while remaining somewhat enigmatic.” SO, for a festival that is so heavily grounded in the fundamentals of innovation, diversity, inclusivity of polished work from all genres including experimental, and preaching the choir of standing for social justice and egalitarianism-- why would a film like Kuso, by Flying Lotus, peeve off so many Sundance connoisseurs to the point of prompting a walkout at last year's festival? INDIEWIRE ARTICLE: --- Munroe, Roberta. How Not to Make a Short Film: SecretsFrom a Sundance Programmer. Hachette Books, 2014.